MS Dhoni sheds light on the reason why he took the ball from umpire after Bristol ODI

MS Dhoni hasn’t had the best of times in international cricket of late and has been a recipient of a severe amount of backlash from the cricketing fraternity. He played some whirlwind knocks in the IPL but couldn’t replicate the same for India in their recently concluded T20I and ODI series against England. He scored a few runs in the One Dayers, but couldn’t serve the needs of the team.

In the second ODI at Lord’s, he didn’t accelerate even when the required rate leapfrogged and the approach was severely criticised. Even in the last match at County Ground in Bristol, he couldn’t wield his magic with the willow. Horror of horrors, he scored the runs at an abysmal strike rate of 63.20. Meanwhile, after India’s defeat in the final match, he collected the ball from the umpires.

The act spread like wildfire and rumours of the wicketkeeper-batsman bidding adieu to international cricket sparked. The fact that he took the stumps prior to announcing his Test retirement back in 2014 strongly indicated towards his retirement. In the meantime, the 37-year-old opened up on the matter and put forth the reasons why he took the leather from the umpire.

It’s something very important

“We actually have to keep working to know what really is happening. That was to see why we are not able to get enough reverse swing because we’ll be playing the World Cup and need to be clear about what is it that we need to do so that we get reverse swing going.

It’s something very important and if the opposition is getting it we should also get it at some point or the other so that’s why I took the ball. After 50 overs, the ball is useless to the ICC so I requested the umpire for a ball and then I gave it to the bowling coach and said we need to work on it,” Dhoni was quoted as saying by Wah Cricket.

“We discussed on how we can get it scuffed up so that we can get a bit of reverse swing going that will, in turn, help the fast bowlers get the Yorkers after the 40-over mark that would help us in restricting the opposition by not giving too many runs in the last ten overs,” the veteran cricketer added.

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